Safety features added to Bobcat Village

Students have experienced a real sense of security in the new Bobcat Village at Georgia College & State University.

Safety features were placed in the brand new apartment-style buildings. From public safety patrols to the hotel-style key cards, students have enjoyed their new surroundings with comfort in their well being.

Due to the abundance of students and a lack of rooms in the residence halls, GC&SU began a $56 million renovation project.

The new Bobcat Village was a mere $9.6 million part of this campus-wide makeover, which also included a new residence hall and future improvements to existing residence halls.

One particular safety feature that eased the minds of students was the panic button in every bedroom. Students can press the panic button and are directly connected to the dispatch center of the public safety office.

Ken Vance, director of Public Safety at GC&SU, said he was very proud of the security features in Bobcat Village.

“We have a less than four-minute response time to any call from the apartments,” said Vance. “We immediately know the apartment number when the call comes to the dispatcher, so it saves time in finding the problem.”

As with almost any new electronic feature, public safety has experienced a few minor problems within the system.

“With anything new, there are bugs in it. Each day the number of mistakes goes down,” said Vance. “Several students have pressed the panic button just to see what is was or if it worked. We treat all calls with seriousness, so there have been times when there was no problem, but it was definitely checked out.”

Ashleigh Cook, a GC&SU sophomore, recently moved into the apartments with help from her parents.

“My mom pressed the panic button to see if it worked yet, and the officers were at our door in just a few minutes. It was embarrassing, but good to know that it works,” said Cook.

The expansion of the campus size has also allowed the public safety office to begin hiring more officers, which will increase the ability of public safety to be in more places at once.

Richard Goodson, deputy director of Public Safety, was impressed with the security the apartments offer.

“These are the best security features that we’ve ever had. The only thing we don’t have out there yet are the blue emergency call boxes, which are in the works,” said Goodson. “We have four new officers, which helps us cover the shifts. There are also personnel in the clubhouse 24 hours a day.”

The clubhouse features an outside pool, a computer lab and pool tables for student use. The parking lots are guarded by gates, requiring a key card to enter. With the panic buttons, extra officers and gated parking lots, students have felt very comfortable in their new home.

“It feels good to know that we have the independence of living in an apartment, but we still have the school looking out for us,” said Cook. “We have the freedom of being on our own, but when we need help, its right there.”

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Jan 17 2003. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry